A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of American Adults believe it is too hard to get rid of poor teachers. Just six percent (6%) think it’s too easy to get rid of ineffective teachers, while 18% say the level of difficulty is about right. Thirteen percent (13%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Americans with children in grades kindergarten through 12 feel even more strongly: 73% say it’s too difficult now to remove poor teachers.

Fifty-three percent (53%) of all adults say tenure for teachers should be based more on how their students perform academically rather than on other factors, including principal evaluations. Thirty-four percent (34%) think those other factors should carry more weight. Again, 13% are undecided.

But most adults (68%) also continue to strongly feel that teachers’ unions are more interested in protecting their members’ jobs than in the quality of education. Sixteen percent (16%) say the unions put the quality of education first, down seven points from when Rasmussen Reports first asked the question in December 2008. Another 16% aren’t sure.

Those with children in grades K-12 are even more skeptical of the teachers’ unions.

The survey of 1,000 American Adults were conducted on February 1-2, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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